Projects

International projects

Cost-reduction through material optimisation and Higher EnErgy output of solAr pHotovoltaic modules - joining Europe's Research and Development efforts in support of its PV industry

January 2014 - December 2018

CHEETAH is a combined collaborative project and coordination and support action funded under the European Commission's 7th Framework programme. The CHEETAH consortium is composed of 34 partners from 16 European contries with Scientific excellence and complementarity in all important domains of the photovoltaic field (silicon, thin films, organic solar cells, and novel Technologies).

The solar Energy Section at DTU Energy has extensive expertise in materials and polymer science and technology. In the programme, DTU participates in all activities related to organic photovoltaic (OPV) and is leader of Workpackage 10, the aim of which is to develop very low-cost organic solar cells.

The key objective of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) is to accelerate the Development of new energy Technologies by conceiving and implementing Joint Research Programmes in support of the strategic Energy Technology (SET) plan by pooling and integrating activities and resources, combinding national and community sources of Funding and maximising complementarities and synergies. Photovaoltaic Solar Energy is one of the priority research areas for joint programming.

DTU Energy is the subprogram leader for Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV) and the aim of the sub-program is to align European activities within HOPV research to lay the Scientific Foundation for improving lifetime and efficiency to a level where HOPV becomes a viable technology for bulk electricity production. The main activities comprise developing protocols for characterisation of the technology, creating modeling tools to support the theory and establishing a platform for easy networking and data sharing among the partners.

The project follows the objectives of the Funding institution Climate-KIC of "transforming the built environment". The main target is the Development of a low-carbon microgrids composed of innovative building-integrated organic photovoltaic (OPV) solutions coupled with short-term storage for self-consumption. The design will provide feedback for the assessment of environmental and economic impacts and Thus prove/disprove that the resulting solutions are truly low carbon. Life cycle assessment methodologies will be used as a decision support.

SEESOL

October 2016 - December 2019

The aim of SEESOL is to increase the energy efficiency in our electricity supply. We will develop a solar technology capable of returning the energy invested in its processing faster and with higher yield than any other solar technology, and preferably also any other renewable energy technology. We will use a thin-film solar cell with a perovskite compound as light absorber. It will be manufactured by means of low-energy processing.

Danish projects

Inks for large-scale processing of polymer solar cells. In this project researchers from DTU Energy, DTU Physeics and Aalborg University will collaborate with two private Companies, GM and infinityPV, in search of new robust and cost effective inks and Machinery for large-scale processing of polymer solar cells.

Inks for fast processing of recyclable polymer solar cells. The objective is to establish the requisite groundwork for a future sustainable polymer solar cell industry. The concept of sustainable implies that the solar cell is produced without use of scarece materials, that the inks are based on Water and not on harmful solvents, that the materials bound in the solar cell can be recycled, and that energy used for the manufacturing of the solar cell is paid back fast after installation and multiple times during the solar cell's operational lifetime. The project addresses the sustainability of the entire value chain from materials to electricity production.

The project is funded by a Sapere Aude, DFF - Advanced Grant from the Danish Council for Independent Research.